Vanille & Narcisse

Vanille & Narcisse is a beautiful and spicy floral-vanilla fragrance on my skin. I enjoy its simplicity. It's sweet, casual and relatively light, but still interesting and rich. The vanilla/tonka accord is sweet, but it's no syrupy gourmand. It's cool and airy, comforting and soft. I don't smell black currant or bergamot in this, but I do get the floral notes almost as strongly as the vanilla. The gardenia has a buttery, slightly indolic bend on my skin. It's a linear scent, but I'm quite ok with enjoying these creamy, spicy florals and smooth vanilla from top to bottom. This scent actually brings to mind aspects of YSL Cinema for me, but it behaves better on my skin. It's simpler and lacks Cinema's citrusy tang, but on me it comes out smelling richer. Vanille & Narcisse also reminds me a lot of Hypnotic Poison Eau Sensuelle, but I prefer the former. I'm already a fan of the spicy-woodsy vanilla of the original HP, and Eau Sensuelle seemed too similar to the original HP for me to really appreciate. The orange blossom in Eau Sensuelle also gives it an orange creamsicle vibe that can at times come across as cloying, to my nose at least. In both Eau Sensuelle and Vanille & Narcisse, I get a creamy, powdery vanilla mixed with thick yellow and white florals...narcissus and gardenia in V & N, ylang and orange blossom in ES. I enjoy Vanille & Narcisse more because I get a similar beautiful floral-vanilla accord with an earthier spice, minus the sweet orange I get in Eau Sensuelle. This is a gorgeous, simple, and versatile fragrance.

The good news: Karine Dubreuil (responsible for GUCCI ph II, Envy Me, Guerlain, etc) is now official in-house perfumer for L'Occident. She is a talent in the making for I like her guts to follow her instincts and break new grounds....I expect her to go far. Funny that both perfume designing and cooking still is somewhat male dominated (never understood that)!?! Okay so you have a dual-fleur here: a rich, deep, dense and gourmand sweet Madagascan Vanilla that gets a modern floral edge by Narcissus absolue. The latter is 'all the rave' now as one of the hippest ingredients (we have reinvented Iris often enough now). For me this combo works really well for they are much better together than on their own for vanilla needs the narcissus to give it a lift and narcissus on its own can sometimes lean towards the penetrant or even fecal. Having said that the fragrance has not much 'hidden powers' or development. Once the fruity floral intersting opening wears off after 10 to 20 minutes it is a soft gourmand vanilla-tonka bean ice cream whiff until it fades (and it lasts long). I am in two minds whether I like it enough to buy. The opening is very interesting but I wished that juxtaposition between the sharp Narcissus and warm sweet vanilla would last longer... KIEHL's Vanilla/ Sandalwood Aromatic Mist is still my favourite Vanilla scent out there but L'Occitane temps me well to get a spring-time upgrade...given it's June already, shall I bother with this one?

What a soft, feminine, enveloping scent! I love love love this one. The Vanilla is really natural. Exactly like sniffing a vanilla pod (I just did. I'm baking dessert for tonight as I am typing this :-) ) yet not 'food-y' / lollie like. I've never sniffed a Narcisse, but it's surely lovely natural floral. I don't recognise any Gardenia though. I do sense Black Currant and Bergamot. These are, however, so delicately there that they don't make this frag "Fruity". (Body lotion has got more noticeable Black Currant as a top note, I think) Lasts about 6 hours on my skin. Not bad at all as EDT. About sillage... My male colleague (who's interested in fragrance, fine tea & wine a lot) told me; "Cannot tell where, but there's something nice-smelling is in the room" ------it was me. This one doesn't make a big statement or scream anything. It gently whispers and giggles. Perfect for snuggling up with your lover ( or with yourself) Simply sensual. 10/10

I just opened up mine. First of all thank you all fellow bloggers because I ordered without trying it (I could not). It was fantastic just as described below. It's a perfume you know, not just some mixture of essences, that I'm afraid some of L'Occitane fragances are. As to the fragance itself, vanilla is not overpowering or cloying, I guess it' narcissus that comes behind it, a little bit too powdery for me. Unfortunately I disagree on longevity because on me it does not stay more than an hour. Well, it' s an Eau de Toilette so it shouldn' t last long...

I blind bought this from a lovely Fragrantican and I am so glad I did! This is incredible! Its two of my favorite notes in one perfume without any patchouli (which I love but it seems like it's in nearly everything I own!!) or other noise. It's sweet but not cloying-no candy shop here! To me this is warm and sexy and I love it! I am going to have to scour ebay for another bottle or two if this has been discontinued as mentioned in the previous review. This is just delicious!!